Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC): Submitting, QR Code, and Fixes

Every foreign traveler heading to Thailand must complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card online before reaching the immigration checkpoint, and the only official portal is tdac.immigration.go.th. Submitting the form is free, takes a few minutes, and can be done any time within 72 hours before your arrival.¹²

Who Has to Complete It

The requirement covers all non-Thai passport holders, whether you are a tourist, business traveler, or long-term resident, and it applies at every port of entry: airports, land borders, and seaports alike.¹²

Two narrow exceptions apply. Transit passengers who stay airside and never pass through Thai immigration do not need to submit a TDAC, and neither do travelers entering on a Border Pass.¹ If your connection requires you to leave the secure area and re-enter through immigration, you do need the card.³

When to Submit

The submission window opens 72 hours before your arrival date and stays open until the moment you reach the immigration desk.¹ Try to submit earlier and the system will reject the application.

If you forget before your flight, five Thai airports have self-service kiosks where you can complete the form after landing: Suvarnabhumi (BKK), Don Mueang (DMK), Phuket (HKT), Chiang Mai (CNX), and Hat Yai (HDY). Free airport Wi-Fi is also available at those locations if you would rather use your own phone.³ At smaller airports without kiosks, you will need your own device and a working connection, so filling it out before you fly is safer.

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Gather these details before you open the portal:

Your passport, valid for at least six months from your date of entry and with at least one blank page. The form asks for your passport number, full legal name as printed, nationality, and expiration date.⁴
Your flight or travel details, including airline name, flight number, and scheduled arrival date. Land and sea travelers provide equivalent transport information.
Your Thai accommodation address, broken down by province, district, and subdistrict. A hotel name with its location details works. If you are moving between cities, enter only your first destination.
Your purpose of travel (tourism, business, or another category).
An email address you can check on the road. Your confirmation and QR code will be sent there.

The form also includes a short health declaration managed by the Ministry of Public Health. You may be prompted for extra health details if the country you visited within the past two weeks, your nationality, or your flight is flagged under current public health monitoring.²

Filling Out the Form Step by Step

Go to tdac.immigration.go.th and choose the individual or group submission option. The interface moves through five sections in order: personal information, trip details, accommodation, health declaration, and review.²

On the personal information screen, you can type in your passport details manually or scan the machine-readable zone (MRZ) at the bottom of your passport’s photo page. The MRZ option lets you upload a photo of that section, and the system pulls the data automatically. This is the fastest way to avoid a typo in your passport number or the spelling of your name. Every alphanumeric character must match your passport exactly.

For trip details, enter your flight number and arrival date. The accommodation section asks for your Thai address by province, district, and subdistrict, plus a hotel name if applicable. After the health declaration, you reach a review screen where you can check every field before submitting. Take your time here. Fixing an error after submission is possible but limited, so it pays to get it right on the first pass.

Group Submissions for Families and Travel Companions

You do not need to run a separate session for every member of your group. A single group submission can cover up to ten travelers.² After entering the personal, trip, and health information for the first traveler, click “Add Other Travelers” to begin the next entry. If the flight and accommodation match, select “Same as Previous Traveler” to copy those fields.

You can edit or delete any traveler’s data within the group before hitting submit. Once everything checks out, you provide a single email address for the whole group, and the system sends all the TDACs and QR codes there. Make sure that inbox is reachable by whoever will need to pull up a code at immigration.

Your QR Code Confirmation

After submission, the system emails you a PDF containing your TDAC as a QR code. Print it, save it to your phone, or both.⁵ A screenshot as a backup is a good idea; airport Wi-Fi can be spotty, and refreshing your inbox at the immigration desk is not a good use of anyone’s time. If you used an airport kiosk, the kiosk itself does not print the code, but you can photograph the screen or open it from the confirmation email.³

Fixing Mistakes After You Submit

If you spot a typo, you can correct most fields without starting over. Return to tdac.immigration.go.th and click “Update Arrival Card.” The system asks for your TDAC number, date of birth, and nationality to locate your record, then lets you edit fields and resubmit.²

Three fields cannot be changed after submission: your full name as printed on your passport, your nationality, and your date of birth. An error in any of those means submitting a new TDAC from scratch. That is another reason to use the MRZ scan on your first attempt.

At the Immigration Checkpoint

Present your passport and QR code at the immigration desk. The officer scans or verifies the code against the data in the system, and as long as the information matches your passport and you meet standard entry requirements, they stamp your passport with the permitted length of stay.⁵

One important boundary: the TDAC is not a visa. If your nationality requires a visa to enter Thailand, you still need it. The card records your arrival data and does nothing more.

Avoiding Scam Websites

The only legitimate portal is tdac.immigration.go.th, and it is free. Fraudulent sites that copy the government’s look have been charging travelers around $10 or more for a service that costs nothing.⁶ Beyond the wasted money, these copycats collect your passport number and personal data, and a submission made through an unofficial channel may not be valid when you land.

Check that the URL in your browser reads tdac.immigration.go.th before entering anything. If the site asks for a credit card or any payment, it is not the official portal. Searching for the form in a search engine tends to surface paid third-party sites near the top of results, so type the address directly.

1
U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Thailand. Traveling to Thailand
2
Immigration Bureau. Thailand Digital Arrival Card
3
Immigration Bureau of Thailand. Thailand Digital Arrival Card FAQ
4
GOV.UK. Thailand Travel Advice – Entry Requirements
5
Royal Thai Embassy in Buenos Aires. How to Submit the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC)
6
Immigration Bureau. Official Thailand Digital Arrival Card